A panoramic view and swot analysis of artificial intelligence for achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030: progress and prospects

Applied Intelligence - The17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations Agenda 2030 constitute a global blueprint agenda and instrument for peace and prosperity...     

Approximate similarity search for online multimedia services on distributed CPU–GPU platforms

Similarity search in high-dimensional spaces is a pivotal operation for several database applications, including online content-based multimedia services. With the increasing popularity of multimedia applications, these services are facing new challenges regarding (1) the very large and growing volumes of data to be indexed/searched and (2) the necessity of reducing the response times as observed by end-users. In addition, the nature of the interactions between users and online services creates fluctuating query request rates throughout execution, which requires a similarity search engine to adapt to better use the computation platform and minimize response times. In this work, we address these challenges with Hypercurves, a flexible framework for answering approximate k-nearest neighbor (kNN) queries for very large multimedia databases. Hypercurves executes in hybrid CPU–GPU environments and is able to attain massive query-processing rates through the cooperative use of these devices. Hypercurves also changes its CPU–GPU task partitioning dynamically according to the observed load, aiming for optimal response times. In our empirical evaluation, dynamic task partitioning reduced query response times by approximately 50 % compared to the best static task partition. Due to a probabilistic proof of equivalence to the sequential kNN algorithm, the CPU–GPU execution of Hypercurves in distributed (multi-node) environments can be aggressively optimized, attaining superlinear scalability while still guaranteeing, with high probability, results at least as good as those from the sequential algorithm.     

Comparative toxicity of nanostructured alumina and a commercial inert dust for Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) at varying ambient humidity levels

The widespread concern for environmental and human health has raised the need for new reduced-risk control strategies and the search for new chemical classes of pesticides. Recently, a novel type of particulate material, nanostructured alumina (NSA) has been found to induce mortality in insects exposed to wheat treated with NSA dust. Preliminary studies have shown insecticidal activity of NSA particles on two insect species, Sitophilus oryzae (L.), and Rhyzopertha dominica, (F.), major pests of stored grain. We investigated the toxicity of NSA and Protect-It^® diatomaceous earth (DE) using dry dust applications at three different relative ambient humidity levels. Results showed that NSA was more effective in killing S. oryzae than Protect-It^® and was equally toxic to R. dominica. Treatment with both products also reduced progeny production. In addition, R. dominica was less susceptible to inert dusts than S. oryzae. Our results suggest that NSA might prove a good alternative or complement to DE based products, and encourage further testing with other insect pests and systems, plus experiments on delivery options to further enhance NSA products.     

Characterization of Microencapsulated Rosemary Essential Oil and Its Antimicrobial Effect on Fresh Dough

This study aimed to characterize rosemary essential oil particles obtained by spray-drying and to evaluate their antimicrobial activity. Measurements of mycelial growth of Penicillium and Aspergillus fungi, isolated from fresh dough, were made applying oil concentrations of 1.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, and 50.0 μL/mL. Fungi and yeast counts in the fresh dough submitted to the control (no oil), pure oil, and microencapsulated oil treatments were also conducted. The microcapsules showed 50 % oil retention after drying, and the major oil components identified were 1,8-cineole (29.0 %), camphor (26.6 %), and α-pinene (10.6 %). The analysis of the particles revealed surfaces without fissures, with a mean particle size of 12.2 μm and presenting an amorphous structure. The growth inhibiting effect of Penicillium sp. fungus, compared to the control, was verified at concentrations of 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 μL/mL rosemary essential oil, which did not differ among them. For Aspergillus sp., the application of 10.0 μL/mL oil provided greater inhibition compared to 1.0 and 5.0 μL/mL. Complete inhibition occurred with the application of 50.0 μL/mL for both fungal genera tested. At 8 days of dough storage at 25 °C, a decrease of at least 0.7 and 1.5 log cycles of fungal growth was observed in the dough with pure oil and that with microencapsulated oil, respectively, relative to the control. The microencapsulation process retained the antimicrobial property of rosemary essential oil and provided further extension of this activity over time when applied to fresh dough.     

High Temperature Oxidation and Microstructural Evolution of Modified MCrAlY Coatings

Thermal sprayed MCrAlY coatings are widely used as a bond coat in thermal barrier systems to protect the substrate from corrosion and high temperature oxidation and to improve the compatibility between the ceramic top coat and metallic substrate. In this paper, the high temperature oxidation resistance of MCrAlY coatings with modified compositions was evaluated; in particular, the effect of the addition of reactive and refractory elements (Ta, Re, Si, and Hf) was investigated. MCrAlY coatings were obtained by high velocity oxygen fuel spray and vacuum plasma spray techniques; samples were exposed to air at 1423 K (1150 °C) and the oxidation kinetics were evaluated by measuring the thickness of the thermally grown oxide (TGO) scale at several exposure times. Experimental data confirmed that the oxidation resistance of MCrAlY coatings is strictly related to the amount of the reactive and refractory elements in the starting powders and that a thorough understanding of the microstructural modifications taking place during oxidation is essential for controlling TGO growth and thermal barriers’ durability.     

The Origin of the High Voltage in DPM12/P3HT Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells made using a blend of DPM12 and P3HT are studied. The results show that higher V_oc can be obtained when using DPM12 in comparison to the usual mono‐substituted PCBM electron acceptor. Moreover, better device performances are also registered when the cells are irradiated with sun‐simulated light of 10–50 mW cm^?2 intensity. Electrochemical and time‐resolved spectroscopic measurements are compared for both devices and a 100‐mV shift in the density of states (DOS) is observed for DPM12/P3HT devices with respect to PCBM/P3HT solar cells and slow polaron‐recombination dynamics are found for the DPM12/P3HT devices. These observations can be directly correlated with the observed increase in V_oc, which is in contrast with previous results that correlated the higher V_oc with different ideality factors obtained using dark‐diode measurements. The origin for the shift in the DOS can be correlated to the crystallinity of the blend that is influenced by the properties of the included fullerene.